Modest Gains for Tel Aviv Stocks

Most of the indices on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange finished the first day of the trading week, Sunday, with modest gains. The TA Composite Index closed at 1,246.74, up .27 percent from Thursday's close, while the TA 100 rose a quarter of a percent to 1,248.63, including an advance of .41 percent to 1,383.97. The stocks outside the TA 100 stood at 1,057.43, up .14 percent.

Leading the way was the oil and natural-gas index, which climbed .85 percent to 1,385.02. The bank issues stood at 1,325.69, up .58 percent, as the financial institutions rose ..27 percent to 1,281.56, including a drop of .54 percent to 1,494.68 by the insurance stocks. Most of the insurance index stood at 333.62 while the biomed issues fell 2.92 percent to 928.36. The communications stocks advanced .53 percent to 812.67 and the real-estate index closed at 394.68, up .51 percent.